


Confessions

by gleeksfreaksandwannabes



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Coming Out, Family Bonding, Family Fluff, M/M, lightwood brothers, magnus bane party planner extraordinaire, max is still alive, post valentine, show verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-23 20:51:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8342269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gleeksfreaksandwannabes/pseuds/gleeksfreaksandwannabes
Summary: When Magnus invites Alec, Max, Izzy, Jace, Clary and Simon to a party, Alec realizes that he never officially came out to the littlest Lightwood.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So the other day Todd tweeted about Max and Magnus meeting in season 2, and I kinda got overwhelmed with ideas and with the realization that Max doesn't know about Alec's relationship with Magnus, and then this was born!
> 
> Let me know what you think, and as always you can find me on tumblr [here!](gleeksfreaksandwannabes.tumblr.com)

Alec was running late. As usual.

But this time, it wasn't his fault. Max had lost his favorite blue sweater and refused to leave the institute without it.

"C'mon Max, think!" Alec implored "where did you see it last?" his brother jutted his bottom lip out, thinking, and even Alec's rush he couldn't help but grin at the gesture. So like him...

"It was in my closet, I swear!" Max said, dashing back over to his wardrobe and tossing clothes out one by one.

"Can't you just wear something else?" Alec asked "Magnus'll kill me if we're late!"

"Who's Magnus?" Alec froze. He had told Max Izzy was throwing them a party and one of the warlocks downtown had agreed to let them use his loft for the night, but now Max was looking over at him, his head tilted curiously and his little brown eyes trained on his big brother. Hesitating a moment, Alec sits down on Max's bed before gesturing for his brother to join him,

"Magnus is the one who's letting us have the party at his loft tonight," he could've just left it at that; Max seemed satisfied with the answer, but something inside of him wanted to say more. There was a part of him that knew Max deserved to know - he would be meeting Magnus tonight, after all - but that was another, more overwhelming part of him that just needed to say it out loud, to make it real, because the angel knew what Alec felt for Magnus was beginning to feel pretty real. Some kind of inner courage surged him on as he took a deep breath, 

"Max, there's more," Max looked up at him curiously, and Alec gripped the bed a little harder to ground himself, 

"Remember how mom told you I was getting married to Lydia? And we had the wedding while you were in Idris?"

"Yeah," Max said, his expression turning into a pout "I had to stay with my tutors while everyone else went to the party,"

"It was safer for you there," Alec reminded him "anyway, I didn't end up marrying Lydia,"

"I know," Max replied "mom said you two had a fight," Alec resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his mother's flimsy cover up, briefly wondering just how many fake stories she had told his brother.

"She lied Max," he said carefully "the reason I didn't go through with the wedding was because Magnus was there." he took another breath as Max looked at him questioningly "we met him back when Clary first got here, and he helped us put protective runes on the institute. There was something different about him," Alec said slowly, some small part of him unable to believe that he was discussing his love life with a nine year old, but Max deserved to know the whole story "something special. He made me look at him the way Jace used to look at Clary, you know?"

"All mushy and gross?" Max asked, and Alec let out a breathy chuckle despite himself.

"Yeah, like that," he said, but the smile quickly left his face as he realized the gravity of what he was about to do "I started to like him, really really like him, like the way Jace used to like Clary and Simon likes Izzy. But I was scared. I was scared of the way people would see me if they knew how I felt, and then mom told me I needed to marry to help the family, so I did. I pushed Magnus away and tried to marry Lydia, and it's one of the worst things I've ever done in my life, but somehow he forgave me, and he tried to stop the wedding, because he knew I was making a huge mistake. And he was right," Alec hesitated "he knew I didn't feel about Lydia the way I was starting to feel about him, and I knew it too. So I stopped the wedding, and now Magnus and I are together."

"You mean together like Izzy and Simon are?" Max asked, and Alec nodded,

"Right. I'm gay, Max," Max was silent for an agonizing moment, thinking, and Alec's heartbeat began to race; what if Max didn't understand? What if their parents had tainted him already? What if he hated him? Alec couldn't stand that...

"So, you like boys?" he asked finally, blinking up at his brother innocently.

"Yeah," Alec said carefully "one boy in particular, actually," Max nodded slowly,

"Did you kiss him?" he asked with a wicked smile, and it was as if all the weight of the world had lifted off Alec's shoulders; he had finally come out to his brother. He had said it out loud, and nothing bad had happened. He couldn't help the grin that spread across his face,

"Yeah, I did. At the wedding actually, that's how everyone found out," Max's eyes widened,

"Mom and dad would've been so shocked!"

"Yeah, they were," Alec chuckled "you should've seen the looks on their faces!" 

Things were still far from okay between Alec and his parents; they were reluctantly silent when it came to Magnus now, which was in improvement on their outright disgust after the wedding, but their relationship was far from what it used to be, and that still caused a dull ache in his chest whenever he thought about it. 

But there was something about the wicked gleam in Max's eyes as he laughed at the thought of their parents' shock, now that all was said and done, that lifted the burden slightly. He was out now, had been for a month, and the wedding was becoming a distant memory; it would always be the moment that he took his life back, and the moment he knew he needed Magnus, but his parents' reactions were slowly falling to the recesses of his mind, and had was beginning to realize that Max was right, they actually did look pretty funny now that he thought about it. If he was going to be the family disappointment, the least he could do was laugh about it.  
Max's laughter died down then, and his face became uncharacteristically serious,

"You're my hero, you know?" Alec felt a lump form in his throat at that,

"Max--"

"You are," Max said seriously "kissing Magnus at the wedding sounded so scary, but you did it anyway. You're so brave, Alec,"

Alec felt his eyes stinging as he brought his brother into a tight hug, croaking out his thanks around the hard lump and the tightness in his throat. His baby brother thought he was a hero. He had never thought of him that way before; Jace had always been the one Max worshipped, and Alec had always been the responsible big brother. He had always been the one that everyone relied on, that everyone knew would do the right thing, and it was no surprise to them when he did, but to have someone admire him for what he had done, it was completely new. His mother had told him countless times that he had done well - she had told him she was proud right before the wedding - but her words had been hollow, businesslike; they had meant nothing to Alec, but Max...

Max was his baby brother. Alec had wanted to be the best brother he could be since the day Max was born, to be someone Max looked up to, someone he wanted to be like, to have Max look at him the way he looked at Jace, and now he had, and it felt incredible. He hoped Max didn't notice the tear trickling down his cheek,

"Alec?" Max said "you're crushing me!"

"Oh, sorry," Alec let him go, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, but Max grinned good naturedly before something caught his eye behind Alec's shoulder.

"My blue sweater!"

 

The party was in full swing by the time Alec and Max arrived, and Magnus raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at them as he answered the door,

"There's fashionably late, Alexander, and then there's just plain tardiness,"

"Sorry," Alec said, glancing down at his brother "Max and I were just having an important talk about us," Magnus held his gaze for a moment, giving a minute nod in understanding before turning a beaming grin on Max,

"You must be the famous Max Lightwood," he said, extending a ringed hand, which Max shook happily "your brother has told me all about you,"

"He did?" Max's ears went red as he shot his brother a look that Alec pretended not to see.

"All good things, I swear," Magnus smiled 

"I'm Magnus Bane, high warlock of Brooklyn and party planner extraordinaire," Max smirked at that,

"Nice to meet you Magnus,"

"The pleasure's all mine," he replied graciously, his eyes flickering to a smiling Alec before returning to his brother as Max looked up at Alec,

"Alec, is Magnus your boyfriend?" Alec's eyes widened slightly, before his gaze landed on a hesitant Magnus and softened,

"Yeah," he said, a little breathless "he is, if that's alright with him," Magnus stared at him for a moment, not in hesitation but in a kind of fond disbelief, before his mouth curved into a gentle smile to mirror Alec's own,

"It definitely is,"

Alec couldn't help the smile spreading across his features as he stood by Magnus' drink cart. If someone had told him a year ago that he would be standing in his warlock boyfriend's apartment, surrounded by family and friends who all knew about their relationship and supported them unconditionally, in the midst of a party celebrating Valentine's Morgernstern's demise, he would've scoffed in their face, let alone standing next to Clary Fairchild, mundane turned shadowhunter, romantic rival turned close friend and kind of adoptive sister turned his brother's girlfriend.

"You know if the wind changes, your face is gonna be stuck like that," Alec blinked out of his thoughts to see her grinning up at him good naturedly.

"You'd better stop grinning then," he replied, sipping his drink as he watched Izzy trying to get Simon to stop stepping on her toes on the dance floor.

"I can't help it," she said, her voice lowering a little as she became serious "I mean, after everything that's happened, everything we've been through, everything's finally okay again, I didn't think it was possible."

"Yeah," Alec said in a breath, his eyes falling on Max, who was standing up to his fullest height, about level with Magnus's belt buckle, his little chest puffed out and arms crossed over it, and his chin tilted up in defiance as he told Magnus in no uncertain terms that if he ever messed with Max's big brother, he would have him to deal with.

"Me either,"


End file.
